{"id":12922,"date":"2026-05-17T16:21:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T16:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/17\/taiwan-gently-pushes-back-on-trumps-warnings-after-china-summit-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T16:21:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T16:21:22","slug":"taiwan-gently-pushes-back-on-trumps-warnings-after-china-summit-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/17\/taiwan-gently-pushes-back-on-trumps-warnings-after-china-summit-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan gently pushes back on Trump\u2019s warnings after China summit – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Only the Taiwanese people can decide their future, Taiwan\u2019s president said \u200cSunday, after <\/strong>President Donald Trump <\/a>appeared to raise doubts about long-standing U.S. policy on his trip to China.<\/p>\n

Trump said he had not yet decided whether to proceed with arms sales to Taiwan, <\/a>a self-ruling democracy that Beijing has vowed to control by force if necessary, after his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.<\/p>\n

Trump also said Friday he was \u201cnot looking to have somebody go independent\u201d when asked about whether the U.S. would come to Taiwan\u2019s rescue in the event of a Chinese invasion. \u201cWe\u2019re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I\u2019m not looking for that,\u201d he told Fox News, adding that he wants both sides to \u201ccool down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s President Lai Ching-te <\/a>said \u200cSunday that the term \u201cTaiwan independence\u201d means the island neither belongs to nor is subordinate to \u200bBeijing, adding that only the Taiwanese people can decide their future.<\/p>\n

Speaking at an event to mark the \u200b40th anniversary of his party\u2019s founding, Lai did not refer directly to Trump in his speech \u2060or answer \u200bquestions shouted at him by reporters.<\/p>\n

Taiwan \u201cis a sovereign and independent democratic nation, and is not subordinate to the People\u2019s Republic of China,\u201d its foreign ministry said Saturday in a statement.<\/p>\n

During Trump\u2019s visit to Beijing, Xi called Taiwan \u201cthe most important issue in China-U.S. relations,\u201d according to Chinese state media, warning that if not handled properly, the two sides could face \u201cclashes and even conflicts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/picture>
President Donald Trump reviews an honor guard with Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 14.<\/span>Alex Wong \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mishandling Taiwan would mean \u201cputting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,\u201d Xi told Trump during the meeting, according to a readout from China\u2019s foreign ministry.<\/p>\n

Like most countries, the U.S. has no formal relations with Taiwan, but it is the island\u2019s biggest international backer and arms supplier, a stance that has led to pressure from China.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has no mutual defense treaty with Taiwan and has long maintained a policy of \u201cstrategic ambiguity\u201d when it comes to whether its military would defend the island directly in the event of a Chinese attack.<\/p>\n

Trump said Friday that he had not yet made a \u201cdetermination\u201d on whether a proposed $14 billion arms package to Taiwan will move forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll make a determination over the next fairly short period,\u201d Trump told reporters on Air Force One while en route to Alaska, adding that he would need to speak with Lai before making a final decision.<\/p>\n

Trump said that he spoke \u201ca lot\u201d about Taiwan with Xi during their summit and that he does not believe there is a risk of conflict with China over the Beijing-claimed island.<\/p>\n

\"TAIWAN-US-CHINA-DEFENCE\"<\/picture>
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te speaks with AFP in Taipei in February.<\/span>Yu Chen Cheng \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the sharper language, Trump administration officials have said repeatedly that U.S. policy on Taiwan is not expected to change.<\/p>\n

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press\u201d on Sunday that it was for Trump to decide whether arms sales should continue, but encouraged him \u201cto make Taiwan strong so we can deter aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n

He warned that \u201cif you give an inch\u201d to China on Taiwan, \u201cI think they\u2019ll take a mile, but we\u2019re not looking for war, we\u2019re not looking for conflict. I want to keep the status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also told moderator Kristen Welker that the U.S. should approve a package of \u201ctariffs and sanctions\u201d against China that would apply in the event of an invasion.<\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s presidential office spokesperson Karen Kuo said Saturday that the office had received \u201cmultiple reaffirmations\u201d from the U.S., including from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, \u201cthat the consistent U.S. policy and position toward Taiwan remain unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio told NBC News on Thursday<\/a> that Washington\u2019s policy toward the island had not changed following Trump\u2019s meeting with Xi in Beijing.<\/p>\n

After the interview, Taiwan\u2019s Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung thanked the U.S. for repeatedly expressing support for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwan\u2019s government-funded Central News Agency.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

FOR<\/span>SUBSCRIBERS<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Key<\/p>\n

\n

Key takeaways from Trump’s trip to China<\/h2>\n

03:08<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Taiwan was never conquered by the Chinese Communist Party <\/a>when it took control of mainland China in 1949. The defeated Kuomintang fled to the island and established de facto self-rule there.<\/p>\n

Reclaiming the island, 100 miles from the coast of China, has been a long-term policy goal for Beijing. Taiwan\u2019s China-friendly opposition leader visited Beijing in April<\/a> ahead of Trump\u2019s visit, saying the top priority must be averting a war.<\/p>\n

Trump \u201cdidn\u2019t indicate in the slightest that he was going to bat for Taiwan,\u201d H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense and security think tank in London, told NBC News.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe broader approach of the United States has been, \u2018Let\u2019s focus our attention on our hemisphere, where we expect to have primacy as compared to everybody else,\u2019\u201d he said. But the supporting argument for that, he added, means that others, like China, \u201cwill have primacy in their region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s apparent reluctance to defend Taiwan comes after the president\u2019s snap decision to pull thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany <\/a>in May, rattling another key relationship.<\/p>\n

He offered no reason for the move, which blindsided NATO, but his decision came amid an escalating dispute with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and Trump\u2019s anger that European allies have been reluctant to get involved in the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The second Trump administration has \u201creally been a nail in the coffin when it comes to how American allies worldwide view American power,\u201d added Hellyer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only the Taiwanese people can decide their future, Taiwan\u2019s president said \u200cSunday, after President Donald Trump appeared to raise doubts about long-standing U.S. policy on his trip to China. Trump said he had not yet decided whether to proceed with arms sales to Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy that Beijing has vowed to control by force […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}